Jurassic World Brings Fans to Universal for Ride Re-Opening

After so much time has passed, Jurassic World will soon be making its debut. It has been 22 years since the first story of humans attempting to play God by recreating the reptilian beasts that walked the earth some million years ago was brought to the big screen in Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, which was released in 1993. Today, the fourth installment of the series, Jurassic World, has fans everywhere anxious for its upcoming release date, June 12. Director Colin Trevorrow has not spared any opportunity to impress the viewers, but he is not the only one doing the impressing. Jurassic World is bringing fans back to Universal to experience the classic dinosaur ride one more time since its re-opening.

With the release of Jurassic World on the verge, Universal Studios has finally re-opened Jurassic Park The River Adventure ride after a very drawn-out three years of not being in service. With the re-opening of the ride also comes the reveal of its much-needed makeover. Those tired old dinosaurs behind the ride’s park gates practically had riders rolling their eyes from the extreme lack of that “wow” factor that most visitors go to Universal Studios to get. Without this re-opening, Jurassic World would have put Universal and this ride to shame. Now, riders will be more than impressed with the cosmetic transformations that completely enhance the experience of each rider drifting along inside those yellow rafts.

Some of the changes that were done to breathe some life back into this dinosaur adventure included most of the reptilian models being given new skin to replace the hoary, faded, and stale skin they were suited with so many years ago. The technological advances that allow Universal the ability to transport people into different time zones and realities have been added to the ultrasaurs, hadrosaur, and stegosaurus, giving them a much fuller and surprisingly natural-looking image and range of motion. They move much more smoothly and are lifelike, creating a sense of wonder in the riders for what it might have felt like back then.

Then, things go from beautiful to a bit scary when the raft enters the raptor containment zone, where the darkness takes over and smoke as well as rattling cages of angry raptors attempting to escape cause riders to unintentionally move in towards the center of their boat. The poison-spitting dilophosaurus makes its appearance here in the dark and it looks just as lifelike as the one in the movie. Lastly, the T-Rex accomplishes the job it was meant to do, which is to be a distraction from the inevitable drop ahead. It is not any bigger, but it definitely has a much more realistic look which makes the whole thing worthwhile, and without creative minds like Spielberg’s, there would have never been a Jurassic World to be excited about.

An interesting fact that a lot of people are unaware of is that years before Spielberg directed the Jurassic Park movie, the director also played a major role in the design of the Universal Studio’s dinosaur ride. The ideas he had for what he wanted the film to look like were manifested in the story and style of the water ride. With the cost mounting up to about $110 million, this theme park attraction is in the top five when it comes to the most expensive rides ever built at a theme park. It was one of the first water rides that implemented a drop that was as steep as 84 feet with an angle of 51 degrees.

The splash riders receive at the bottom of the drop, which is used to ensure everybody will exit their rafts completely soaked in water, changed when Universal was forced to add magnetic breaks to significantly slow the speed of each raft for safety precautions. Never the less, with the quickly approaching debut of the new installment, Jurassic World, a lot of people are bringing themselves back to Universal Studios to experience the ride one more time since its re-opening.